The Star That Fell To Earth …
What a difference two months have made to the career of Michael Carrick.
There were gasps when United announced last July that his transfer could cost the club more than £18 million. The expensive purchase was necessary, fans were advised, because Carrick would be the future of United’s midfield. ‘We have got a great player at a great price,’ said Chief Executive David Gill.
Spurs had cleverly exploited United’s fear of negative headlines and fan disapproval to extract a mammoth fee for a player who had just enjoyed his best-ever season since making the grade at West Ham. Carrick even gate-crashed England’s World Cup party and gained respect for his composed performance against Ecuador. When his transfer to Britain’s most glamorous club was confirmed, the midfielder was a man on top of the world.
Now, just seven weeks into his United playing career, Carrick is the star that fell to earth with a bang. Players, who arrive at Old Trafford billed as ‘the new Keane’ and claim the number 16 jersey too, had better display the full range of their talents and quickly. A goal and a series of commanding performances would help settle nerves too. No such luck for Michael Carrick.
The midfielder’s United career began inauspiciously at the Amsterdam tournament. Carrick played just 14 minutes of his second game in United’s colours before hobbling off with an ankle strain. The injury wrecked the 25 year old’s pre-season fitness work, leaving him trailing his midfield rivals for a place in the first team. Having been fêted as the future of United, Carrick was forced to watch from the sidelines as John O’Shea took over defensive midfield duties in United’s glorious start to the season.
Carrick started against Watford and enjoyed his best game in his Old Trafford debut against Spurs. He revealed a genuine eye for a pass and was bright and inventive but faded in the game as Spurs Zokora began to assert his physical presence.
Ferguson kept the midfielder in the United side which returned to European competition against Celtic. On this occasion, Carrick was unable to assert himself and it was Paul Scholes who won plaudits for a decisive contribution to United’s victory.
Carrick wasn’t trusted for the match against Arsenal until the 78th minute and hardly had time to find his rhythm before Arsenal made the most of their territorial supremacy with a well-worked goal.
Injury and a lack of fitness may explain the fitful start to Carrick’s United career, as the player readily concedes. ‘Match fitness will take a few games,’ he admitted. ‘I just want to get in the team and stay there. I’m not taking anything for granted. There is a lot of quality here.’
Sir Alex remains certain of Carrick’s talent and expects the player to live up to his price tag. ‘He’s an excellent footballer and definitely a Manchester United player,’ Ferguson said.
The manager is right to champion Carrick because much of his own personal credibility rests on the midfielder’s success. Ferguson would also be justified in insisting that his summer signing be given more time to adjust to playing for United and that it is too soon to judge the player just two months into his Old Trafford career.
But after so many failures with so many players, the manager must realise that he does not have time on his side. Carrick’s transfer has to pay dividends and quickly or fergie’s wife Cathy may have to decamp to Glasgow sooner than expected. Whatever the boss might say, it is still far from obvious where and how the £18 million man fits into United’s line-up.
Paul Scholes’ return from injury to something approaching is old form has surely complicated Ferguson’s selection problem.
The manager was effusive in his praise for the ginger genius following the Celtic match. ‘At 31, his experience is starting to show through. He has an awareness around the box which is better than most players,’ he said. ‘Hopefully the next couple of seasons will be a peak time for him.’
Carrick, billed as a defensive midfielder but seemingly better equipped to be an alternative to the United veteran, must have winced on hearing Fergie’s words. An on-form Scholes is an automatic starter for United, as even Carrick realises.
‘Paul Scholes is just fantastic,’ he told reporters last week. ‘When you play alongside him, you realise what a special talent he is. He is so intelligent and clever, he makes the game look really simple and showed it against Celtic by creating two goals.’
The keenness Ferguson revealed in trying to sign the now stricken Owen Hargreaves, suggests that Sir Alex himself recognises Carrick is less suited to a defensive role in the United engine room. Even with Hargreaves off the club’s radar due to a broken leg, there is little evidence so far to make observers confident that Carrick has it within him to fill the ‘Keane chasm’ for United.
If Scholes’ good form continues, Carrick’s best hope would be a change to United’s formation. A midfield quintet à la Arsenal would give the midfielder a more secure platform from which to display his passing skills. It might suit United’s tacticians too, given Wayne Rooney’s search for form and Saha’s experience as a lone-running frontman with Fulham.
A five-man United midfield however, is an unlikely option. The manager dare not risk the fan disapproval that would accompany Rooney’s relegation to the benches, as the derisive howls that accompanied the striker’s substitution against Arsenal proved.
Despite a hefty price tag, Carrick’s place in United’s first team is far from guaranteed. United head into the Autumn with an unexpected midfield formation of Scholes rather than Carrick plus one. One player’s disappointment bears witness to the football renaissance of another. AU
© Copyright: Absolutely United 2006
